Afghan eagle's rehab grounded

U.S. Navy SEALs say rules hamper effort to get injured bird to an area sanctuary

By PAUL GRONDAHL Staff writer

Published 1:00 am, Thursday, July 1, 2010

Photo: Photo Courtesy Craig White

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This steppe eagle was shot and wounded on a rifle range by an Afghan soldier at Camp Scorpion in Afghanistan earlier this month and is being nursed back to health by Navy SEALs. They want to send it to a bird sanctuary in Rensselaer County before they return to the U.S. in two months, but have hit a bureaucratic snag. (Courtesy: Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Craig White) less

This steppe eagle was shot and wounded on a rifle range by an Afghan soldier at Camp Scorpion in Afghanistan earlier this month and is being nursed back to health by Navy SEALs. They want to send it to a bird ... more

Photo: Photo Courtesy Craig White

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Cover of "Feathers of Hope," by Altamont author Barbara Chepaitis, which chronicles the efforts at rescuing and rehabilitating wounded eagles by Pete Dubacher at the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton, Rensselaer County. less

Cover of "Feathers of Hope," by Altamont author Barbara Chepaitis, which chronicles the efforts at rescuing and rehabilitating wounded eagles by Pete Dubacher at the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton, ... more

Photo: Courtesy SUNY Press

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Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday June 30, 2010. One of Victoria's three babies, soon to be released, is shown at left. U.S. Navy SEALs are trying to nurse back to health a steppe eagle, not shown, that was shot and wounded by an Afghan soldier recently in Afghanistan, and are trying to arrange to have it brought to Grafton, since it can't fly or survive in the wild anymore.FOR PAUL GRONDAHL STORY. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union ) less

Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday ... more

Photo: PHILIP KAMRASS

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Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday June 30, 2010. One of Victoria's three babies, soon to be released, is shown at left. U.S. Navy SEALs are trying to nurse back to health a steppe eagle, not shown, that was shot and wounded by an Afghan soldier recently in Afghanistan, and are trying to arrange to have it brought to Grafton, since it can't fly or survive in the wild anymore.FOR PAUL GRONDAHL STORY. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union ) less

Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday ... more

Photo: PHILIP KAMRASS

Image 5 of 5

Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday June 30, 2010. One of Victoria's three babies, soon to be released, is shown at left. U.S. Navy SEALs are trying to nurse back to health a steppe eagle, not shown, that was shot and wounded by an Afghan soldier recently in Afghanistan, and are trying to arrange to have it brought to Grafton, since it can't fly or survive in the wild anymore.FOR PAUL GRONDAHL STORY. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union ) less

Victoria is a bald eagle who was rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and was brought to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton where he has lived ever since, and is shown on Wednesday ... more

Photo: PHILIP KAMRASS

Afghan eagle's rehab grounded

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GRAFTON -- An eagle wounded in the wing by a bullet in Afghanistan is being nursed back to health by elite U.S. fighters, despite limited supplies and the daily dangers they face in the war-torn country.

But because of an international treaty covering endangered species and U.S. wildlife regulations, their efforts to have the injured eagle sent to a bird sanctuary in Rensselaer County has hit a bureaucratic snag.

"I fear he will be killed soon unless rescued," Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Craig White of the Navy SEALs wrote recently in an e-mail from Camp Scorpion in Afghanistan. "He tries to fly, but cannot get off the ground. Its living conditions are the best with what we have, but not great. It is a cage the size of a small walk-in closet with rocks on the bottom and a shelf with a ramp."

White wrote seeking the assistance of Pete Dubacher, who runs Berkshire Bird Paradise in Grafton and who has taken in 20 wounded eagles over the past three decades. White found Dubacher's website and sent an urgent request for help since he fears for the eagle's fate once his unit returns to the U.S. in about two months.

"I doubt that the crew relieving us will want to put the effort into caring for it and we do not have the authority or capability to bring it back to us," White wrote.

"I would be honored to help the eagle because I'm so proud of the bravery of our soldiers who are willing to stick their necks out for a bird," said Dubacher, a former Army cook who served in the late-1960s in Panama, where he bought parrots being sold as pets in the vegetable stands of Panama City and set them free.

"Unfortunately, it's become sort of a mission impossible to get the eagle out of Afghanistan because of all the bureaucracy. I told the boys over there not to get their hopes up too high," Dubacher said.

Based on a photo of the wounded bird White e-mailed, Dubacher identified it as a steppe eagle, a large bird of prey common in Afghanistan, a migratory bird that traverses a wide habitat of deserts, steppes and savannahs from Africa to India and all across Central Asia and Europe.

"It's a dull, brownish color and not very pretty to look at," Dubacher said. "It's not in the same class as our bald eagle, but the effort and care the soldiers put into saving the bird is remarkable."

The steppe eagle was shot earlier this month on a rifle range, where Navy SEALs were training Afghan soldiers. According to White, the Afghan soldier had one bullet left in his rifle, the eagle landed out on the rifle range "and he decided to take a shot at it, and unfortunately hit it."

The SEALs gathered up the battered, bloody bird, bandaged its wing and helped it convalesce.

After getting the e-mail from Afghanistan, Dubacher enlisted help from Barbara Chepaitis of Altamont, an author and creative writing teacher who has just published with SUNY Press a book about Dubacher and his bird sanctuary titled "Feathers of Hope." It is being shipped to bookstores this week.

"It ripped my heart out when I found out we can't help these soldiers in a dangerous situation who just want to help a wounded bird. It's almost as if the eagle has become a little piece of their soul," said Chepaitis, whose book explores spiritual connections between humans and birds.

Chepaitis opens her book with an Emily Dickinson poem: "Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul./And sings the tune without the words,/And never stops at all..."

Tom Alvarez, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Office's Northeast regional office, outlined a litany of regulations that are aligned against bringing the steppe eagle to Rensselaer County.

For starters, a treaty signed at the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species, CITES, comes into play. It regulates endangered species, including the steppe eagle, which is listed as a bird of "least concern" with an estimated population worldwide of 10,000 birds. The treaty requires that a permit for export is issued from Afghanistan, where steppe eagles are prized for hunting among falconry devotees. It's unlikely the Afghanistan government would make such a permit request a priority while war is raging, Alvarez said.

To be allowed to enter the U.S., in addition to the CITES export permit from the host country, the eagle needs a U.S. wildlife conservation act permit and an appendix 2 permit. Such permits take at least 90 days to process, Alvarez said. And there's concerns about parasites or diseases the bird may carry.

"U.S. troops have to follow the rules like everyone else," Alvarez said. "This isn't going to be easy, but there are exceptions made."

Alvarez said Schumer's aides were working with officials in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's legislative affairs office to try to streamline the process.

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Meanwhile, Dubacher, who has managed to rescue and rehabilitate numerous eagles given up as lost causes -- one poisoned by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, another mauled by a grizzly bear -- is ready to give the Afghanistan eagle a good home.

"Pete has devoted his life to saving birds and he can guarantee that eagle a safe haven for the rest of its life," Chepaitis said. "That eagle is not a terrorist. We should grant it political asylum."